Into The Night
by JibertyYay
Summary: AU. Canon up to mid Rock This Town. An event happens that changes everyone lives. How does everyone deal? Liberty & JT
1. Don't Let It End

**INTO THE NIGHT**

**CHAPTER ONE -Don't Let It End**

**_DISCLAIMER_:** I do not own these characters, I am only responsible for my sick and twisted imagination.

She wanted to leave. She needed to leave this joke of a birthday party but once she'd made it to her car something told her she needed to turn back. It was one of those nagging voices that wouldn't leave her head. She didn't want to have to see JT again. She didn't want to have him explain further to her that Mia was the woman in his life now. She didn't need to hear that she was in his past. She had to go back though.

Something was wrong.

She couldn't place it.

She crossed the corner just in time to see the red-headed form and his lackeys moving away from the scene. Her heart clenched in her chest as her eyes fell across JT's falling against his car.

The minutes turned into seconds. She raced to him and she held him and screamed. She screamed until she didn't have a voice anymore for help. He was trying to tell her something in those last fleeting moments of consciousness but she ordered him to silence.

Somewhere in the blur someone called 911. An ambulance took him to Toronto General Hospital. The Police wanted her to talk. She was numb. She was speechless.

"Ms. Van Zandt, you said you saw the red-head with the knife?" the chief asked. They'd given her a ride to the hospital in hopes that once she got there she'd be able to talk. She was completely distracted. She kept glancing over to where their small group of friends were waiting for any news. No news had to be good news though.

"I don't know what I saw. It was dark. The red-head and his friends left the scene though," she said her voice never giving away the distress she was feeling. Liberty was a picture of calm and serene in this moment, even if she was distracted. The others were crying but she wasn't. She wasn't going to cry.

The detective nodded seeming to understand that now was neither the time nor place for questioning. "Their student body president has identified them. They're downtown and we're currently questioning them. We will contact you for further information if need be," he told her closing his notebook and giving her his card.

She nodded and turned moving toward her friends.

The blood stains on her dress were enough to send Manny and Emma back into hysterics. Toby looked like he might cry as well. He clutched Liberty nevertheless uncertain of how much to tell her of his last conversation with JT.

"Is there any change?" she asked.

"They haven't said a word," Toby responded quietly.

"Did you call his grandmother?" she asked.

Everyone else was busy being emotional. Liberty was running through checklists of things to do, people to contact. She knew better to contact his mother. His grandmother should be there though.

"-- She's on her way."

Three hours in they were all still waiting. They'd been directed into a waiting room and told that their friend was in emergency surgery. There wasn't much else to be told. Mrs. Cooney had arrived. She took her seat next to Liberty and took to knitting her her nervousness.

Mia arrived shortly thereafter. She looked distressed. Her dark hair waving around her.

"Where is he? Is he alright?" she asked in typical Mia drama queen tone. Her eyes were red. She'd probably been crying for the whole ride over. She'd been out of town. Someone must have filled her in.

Toby looked a touch uncomfortable at her presence being added to the room. Liberty thought Mia had more of a right to be there than herself.

"He's in surgery dear," Mrs. Cooney spoke up. She was polite but her tone demonstrated little preference for Mia. "Liberty would really be the better one to ask for details. She was the one who saw it."

Mia's distress and concern turned to immediate anger. Toby could have been certain that he saw jealousy in her eyes. Finding JT stabbed was not some sort of prize.

"JT was with you when this happened?" she asked. Her tone didn't rise but it was obvious that she wasn't thrilled by the notion.

"I was leaving. I had a bad feeling. I came back. It was those Lakehurst goons. They stabbed him," Liberty responded. She wasn't going to argue with Mia. Not right now. Not in front of his grandmother. Not when JT had already chosen her.

Mia opened her mouth. The look on her face said that she wanted to blame Liberty for all of this but she knew she couldn't blame Liberty. Lakehurst was her baggage. Not Liberty's.

"Well thank you for getting him help. I don't know what i I /i would do if I lost him."

Toby looked even more guilty at that.

Five hours in a doctor came out. He looked tired. He was still in scrubs.

Everyone stood when he entered the waiting room, staring at him.

"Is there someone named Liberty in here?" he asked.

Emma had made Sean drag Liberty home for a change in clothes. She'd went kicking and screaming at that. The only way they'd gotten her to agree was by promising that he'd bring her right back. They hadn't made it back though.

"That's his ex-girlfriend," Mia chimed in unasked before anyone else could respond to that. "If you're looking for Mia, I'm right here."

"Actually – I should probably speak to his family. You must be his grandmother. I was assuming that was your name. The Paramedics said they heard him say it when they were bringing him in," the doctor said completely disregarding Mia and talking to Mrs. Cooney. "James just got out of surgery. The blade hit his thoracic aorta. There was a lot of blood loss but we were able to operate. I used a technique of spinal cord protection with hypothermia. He should be back to his old self in no time. There are possibilities of other issues arising but we we have done everything we can do to achieve the best result. He's still in no condition for vistors but he's stable and receiving antibotics on iv to prevent an staff infection. We have him in our ICU and he is being closely monitored by our staff. His body will need rest so start to heal itself. Medical science only goes so far."

The sighs of relief in the room were audible. The possibility of other issues didn't matter. Everyone was just glad he'd made it. JT was going to be okay. The hugs and tears of joy started between Manny and Emma. Toby just stood there trying to wrap his hand around how Mia could seriously be so petty at the moment as he watched her begin to sulk out of the corner of his eye. She seemed too distracted by the fact her name hadn't come up. More upset that Liberty's had.

"There is room for one person to come and watch over him…" the doctor continued. "I've found in my years of practice that family and friends can do a lot just by being there with a person."

Mia jumped right in not even thinking that his grandmother might want to be in the room with him or any of the friends who had known him for far longer than she.

"I'll do it," she said jumping at the opportunity.

Toby had had enough with her though. He grabbed her by the wrist and started to pull her out of the waiting room. "Actually – why don't you help me grab everyone something to drink," he said.

"Are you okay, Liberty?" Sean asked from behind the steering wheel. There was a level of mutual respect for each other but they didn't often make small talk. Sean wasn't a small talk sort of guy.

"I'm not the one in the hospital," she answered. It was one of those short uncommitting sort of answers that said there was more to it. Sean saw right through that. He'd known her for far too long to not.

"After the shooting, I was numb. I chose to not think about the warm blood on my hands. I was alive. Rick was dead because I was saving someone else. It didn't hit until later and when it did, it wasn't a pleasant feeling," he admitted as he began to drive. He watched her in the mirror. "Rick was nothing to me. JT and you have a lot of history, Liberty. I can't imagine if I were in your shoes and it was Emma. We're here for you. We're all here for you."

It meant more coming from him than anyone else because he wasn't the sort to go out of his way to say things.

"Thank you."

Mia looked pissed off that she'd been pulled out of the waiting room. Toby hadn't been rough with her pulling her out but she wasn't happy that she was being treated like this. She was JT's girlfriend. Not Liberty. Not Emma. Not Manny. She was his girlfriend and she felt that she had every right to be there with him. She had every right to know how he was doing.

She started to put in change for drinks at the drink machine not even talking to Toby.

It was Toby who spoke first. He wasn't the sort of guy who liked to hurt any girl's feelings but he was protective of his friends. JT was his best friend and because of that he had gained some sort of strange need to protect Liberty as well. Mia was a blip on his radar.

"—You don't belong here," he said simply.

"Who do you think you are?" Mia asked shaking her head.

"I'm his best friend. The best friend who he told he was going to break up with you to before he got stabbed. He was on his way to get back with Liberty when he got stabbed," Toby told her.

Mia slapped him at that.

"JT hates her. He told me that that a million time. He can't stand her. She's in his past. She treats him like crap."

"JT only said that stuff because he was upset. I'm not trying to be cruel Mia and I'm not trying to lie to you. He's still in love with Liberty and everyone knows it. You're making a fool out of yourself. "

Liberty changed. She changed into sweats and an old shirt. She didn't care how she looked. She just wanted to get back. When she arrived back the waiting room was noticably emptier. Mia and Toby weren't in there anymore. She figured they were with JT by now though. He was probably laughing at the fact they all thought he could have been dead.

His grandmother gave her a look when she came back in gesturing for her to sit next to her.

"The doctor said he's okay. He's stable. Only one person is allowed to stay with him though and he's not ready for regular visitors.. I was wondering if you would watch over my grandson for me? My health isn't up for these long hours. I really should go get some rest now that he's stable, " she explained quietly.

Liberty was flattered. Honored even but who was she really? What made her the person who deserved to be in there.

"Wouldn't Mia be a more suitable choice?" she asked.

The look on Mrs. Cooney's face was unreadable but Liberty could have swore she saw something there, like she was hiding something. Liberty knew better than to ask about it though.

"You're family. She isn't. The choice is yours though."

Liberty nodded and went to be let in. Mrs. Cooney had never referred to her as family. She technically was, she supposed with the whole illegitimate grandchild ordeal of last year.

When she entered the hospital room, it hit her. JT was really there. JT was lying there. Tubes were running in and out of his body. It was almost like her wasn't there. It wasn't like him to go long without smiling or laughing. He lightened up rooms when he entered them. In the bed, pale and tubed up, he was darker than she'd ever seen him look before.

She'd seen him at his worsts too. She'd never forget the day she'd been in the same hospital after he'd tried to kill himself. Even then, he'd had a way of brightening up the room though. He didn't cry when she was there. He didn't let on to the fact he was in pain.

He just fought for them. He fought for their child. It broke her heart looking back at it. Their lives had been turned upside down so much since their Junior year. Neither of them deserved it. He didn't deserve this. No matter how optimistic everyone else was with what the doctors had to say, he was right here before her and her inner pessimest roared in her head. Her worse fears seemed to be happening.

She was silent as she stepped closer, taking a seat next to his bed. She reached over and took his hand. His hands were cold and clammy. They weren't warm like they had always been before.

She wasn't a religious person by any means. She did mass at holidays with her parents but when it came to regular prayer, it wasn't something that she bothered with. Seeing him like this was enough to bring her too it though.

"I know you're not supposed to ask for things for yourself. I've been a selfish person all year but if there was ever a time, I need you to listen to me. It would be now," she said quietly.

The door was shut so it wasn't like anyone else was going to hear her and think she was talking to herself. She closed her eyes. She concentrated on the words as if the mere thought of it could make things happen. She needed God to listen to her.

"I'm no longer asking for you to make him love me again. If Mia makes him happy, then he can be with Mia. He can do anything. All the times I've prayed asking for you to give me the instant gratification of having him back or having him do something my way instead of his own feels silly," she continued. "I've been in love for .. well you know how long I've been in love with him.. and I can give up everything if you can bring him back to us."

She was choking a bit now. Stuggling to get a hold of the words. She could put words together in eloqent diatribes for the Grapevine any day of the week but in those moment, the words just didn't feel adequete.

" I thought the worse thing that could happen to me would be living without him loving me but I think it may actually be a life without him in it. I'll take anything. I'd rather be alive and know that he hates me than to be alive knowing he isn't going to walk through doors. Matter of fact, if you want me to move away never speak to him again then I will. Just get him through this."

She voice shook some more.

"Please."

And her voice grew silent again.


	2. Everything I Own

**INTO THE NIGHT**

**CHAPTER TWO- EVERYTHING I OWN**

_**DISCLAIMER**_ I do not own these characters, I am only responsible for my sick and twisted imagination.

* * *

Liberty stayed conscious until noon. She'd stayed away hoping he'd wake up or that there would be some change. Every time his hand moved even slightly against her own, she jerked back to life. It was at noon that her body gave in entirely to it's need for sleep. Her body lumped in her chair.

It was around two that she woke up again. Her neck hurt from the strange angle at which she'd fallen asleep. There was no progress. She used the hospital room to call her father and demand he bring her every book on hearts that he could find. She hated depending on hospital staff to know what was going on.

The books were hand-delivered by Danny three hours after that and she poured herself into them. She barely acknowledged the fact her brother was there or the fact his dark skin paled at the sight of her JT and all the tubes even from the door. She just focused on knowing everything there was to know about hearts and surgery. She wanted to know everything there was to know. She needed to know how to make things better.

She didn't even tell him goodbye.

If there was one thing she hated it was not having control of situations. It had been that way when she found out she was pregnant. It meant she had to depend on someone. She couldn't just look out for herself. She'd learned to depend on JT. It hadn't been an easy task. There had been mistakes and drama but in the end their son had made it into the world obnoxiously early, healthy and loud.

She was depending on him now just as she had then, even when she knew she shouldn't. She needed him to come through on this. The books didn't calm her fears. Just because he survived the surgery did not mean he was going to make it. There were a variety of complications that could kill him. He could just go at any moment.

She didn't like not knowing whether or not he'd be there in the next moment.

The nurses told her that he was getting better though. He was improving every moment. Some of his color was even back. His body was just recovering and they'd given him enough medicine to keep him out. He'd find his way back to consciousness when the time was right. They kept telling her that.

It was around seven when she fell asleep again. This time with the use of a pillow a friendly nurse had brought for her and a blanket to keep her warm.

* * *

/p 

While the others stayed at home waiting for change to come back, Toby did drop in the next afternoon with a bag picked up from JT's grandmothers with pajamas and comic books. The little nagging voice in his head told him that JT would not be happy if he was trapped in the hospital in one of those ugly backless gowns for however long they decided to keep him. The comic books were for entertainment.

He felt a need to check up on Liberty too. JT wouldn't be happy if he woke up and Liberty had exhausted herself to death watching over him. Toby had to make sure she didn't do that. He knew how she was throwing herself into things. It didn't matter if it was a writing assignment or taking care of the people she loved Liberty was passionate about everything she did. It was an attribute Toby noted was a common denominator in the pair.

The nurses didn't want to let him through but he told a few white lies and they let him through. The first of which was that he was JT's brother. If blood brother counted, then yes – he was. They'd done that back at camp ages ago. The second was that he was going to deliver the stuff and leave right away. He had every intention of staying until he'd seen Liberty eat something.

He was surprised when he made his way into the room and she was out cold in the chair. She didn't look happy. In fact, she looked troubled. The fact there were books everywhere meant she'd been working herself too hard. At least she was resting peacefully now. It was easier to look at her than JT though. The beeping and the various lines going into him freaked Toby out a bit.

He didn't wake Liberty but took a seat at a chance on the wall across from the bed. He was quiet, contemplative even.

"Stop looking at me like I'm dead," a quiet voice finally murmured. It wasn't loud. It was strained but it was very much JT's voice.

Toby's eyes flickered back. The eyes that hadn't been open were opening.

"We thought you were, man," Toby said unsure of what you were supposed to say in a moment like this. Was he supposed to call a nurse? Should he wake Liberty? She wasn't even stirring. She'd be angry that she wasn't awake when this happened.

"You can't kill off JT Yorke. I'm made of tougher material than you all give me credit for," he said. His eyes were alive even if he wasn't moving much. It was obvious he was feeling every bit of the pain from his wounds. His eyes moved over to the sleeping form of Liberty. Toby caught that.

"She's not left your side," he said seriously before moving closer grabbing a discarded book off the floor to show JT the title. "I think she was planning on playing doctor herself if you didn't wake up soon."

That was the sort of comment JT would have made himself if he'd known and the fact Toby was the one to say it made him laugh. He regretted it once it did as it only made the pain worse.

"Did I hallucinate that I confessed the fact I was still in love with her to you before I went and got myself stabbed?" JT asked almost conversationally.

"No. You did," Toby said. "You bring a whole new meaning to the phrase Love hurts. Speaking of which, I don't think you have to worry about Mia being an issue. She was being a pest and I sort of spilled the beans."

JT had almost completely forgotten about her. Mia. The girl he was dating. He could have been made a Toby but really he'd saved him some of the trouble of telling her himself. That led him back to Liberty though.

"Does she know?" he asked.

Toby shook his head no. He hadn't told her. He didn't think it was his job to tell Liberty that. No one was going to confess is love for her but the person that was in love with her and that was JT.

JT seemed to be deep in thought for a second.

"The locker box in my room under my bed – there is a box. Can you go get it for me?" he finally asked.

Toby raised an eyebrow at that unsure to where he was going with this. "The combination is still the same, right? What am I getting?" he asked.

JT closed his eyes again and inhaled a deep breathe.

"I'm going to do what I should have done last year."

* * *

It was a good five minutes before Toby could say anything. He sat down. He'd been through a lot with his friends over the course of their past relationship and the time apart. Hearing that JT was going to propose to her took him by surprise though especially considering JT had barely returned to consciousness.

"Why now?" he asked. He felt some obligation to make sure this wasn't something crazy. He didn't want to see this blow up in their faces.

"Have you ever almost died Toby? My life flashed before my eyes and she was there. All the good and bad times, she's been there. I can't make up for all the horrible things that I've done. I can't go back and fix those things … but I do know that I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life, my very long life, making it all up to her," he managed out. It was long winded and left him breathless. It was perhaps one of the most serious things he'd said in his life though. There was nothing funny about it at all.

"I get it. I do. Have you ever thought about maybe just getting back together first though and letting it progress to that whole thing at a better time. Namely when you didn't just have heart surgery and have another half of the school year to return to," Toby said. He knew he was coming off as unsupportive. That wasn't it as all. He wanted them to be happy. He was a child of divorce though and he didn't want them becoming his parents. It was as simple as that.

"I'm going to do this whether you're with me or not," JT said back. There wasn't hesitation over it.

They weren't just passionate. They were both thick-headed as well. Toby didn't get much of a chance to argue it though. Liberty was beginning to stir herself and he was afraid anything further would be overheard.

"You didn't wake me up?" she said from her seat when he realized JT was now wake and Toby was there. She was on her feet immediately making sure all the lines were still in place and that he wasn't bleeding through bandages. "Did you even call a nurse?" She was in complete Liberty mode and while sometimes it irritated JT he just strugged to not laugh over it today.

"Liberty, sit down and calm down," he said moving his I.V hand to stop hers from further checks. "I'm fine. I wanted to watch you for a while instead of you watching me. You got the better end of the deal. You didn't get stabbed."

"This is no laughing matter you know," she said glancing at their hands and sitting quietly. He was ordering her around like they were back together. This almost felt like old times.

"I know. I can't laugh so it helps to watch people I care about laugh," he said simply. There wasn't a question to it. No embarrassingly awkward moment on his end. This was just how things were.

Liberty looked noticeably uncomfortable about the comment though. She was the sort of person to read between lines. Their last real conversation had been about her feelings. The ones he didn't return. He was with Mia. He loved Mia. Sure there would always be the bond because of the past and the child they'd created together but he didn't love her. That was how it seemed to Liberty.

Toby felt uncomfortable even being there for this.

"I'm going to just… go let everyone else know, you're back from the dead," he said. He didn't touch on JT's request. Maybe he'd forget about it.

He wasn't at the door before JT reminded him of it though.

"Don't forget to get me what I asked you to."

Toby nodded.

He could hear Liberty through the door even as he left inquiring, "What did you ask him to do? If you want to call Mia, you can. I'll… leave the room and let you."

* * *

JT closed his eyes and pressed the nurse button at that. He did need new meds and maybe if someone came and said he was fine, Liberty would accept the fact he was. A little pained but he felt okay.

The few seconds between the pushing of the button and arrival would give him enough time to tell her that, that was over. He knew if he started to admit one thing, he'd not be able to stop himself and he as unorthodox as everything was going to be wanted it be special when everything came out. He wanted everything to fall into place. He wanted to be the man he knew Liberty always knew he could be. The person he had put off accepting that he was.

"Mia's not here. Some girlfriend she turned out to be," he said simply trying to work out how to say this. He didn't really hate Mia. In fact, she was great but she wasn't Liberty. Not just doing it all here and now wasn't easy though. "Toby's just grabbing something out of my room."

"Blame me. They didn't want a lot of visitors and your grandmother asked me to step in," Liberty said too blind to see what he was trying to say there. "I tried to say that you'd probably rather have Mia here but … then your grandmother called me family and I was done for."

JT had always liked this side of Liberty when she was opening up like this. He made a quiet shushing sound. "I want you here," he told her giving her a meaningful glance.

Before she could say anything further on it the nurse arrived. She smiled when she saw that her patient was in fact conscious again.

"It's good to see your back with us," she said with a polite smile checking his vitals on the monitors. "How much pain are you in? I should probably run a new dose of pain meds. It will help you sleep. You need lots of it. They'll probably move you to a regular room if you're still looking good tomorrow. There are televisions down there."

JT barely acknowledged her. He was too busy glancing over to Liberty who seemed to still be trying to wrap her head around what he'd said. It was their quiet moment and she was intruding on it.

It was only after she repeated his name that he bothered to look her way.

"Television. Nice," he said.

She laughed at him and put some pain meds in through his IV. "Ah, to be young and in love. I'll leave you be but when it starts to kick in you need to rest," she ordered before leaving.

Neither really opened their mouths to argue it. To argue it would have been lying. They just left it out there. To be a nice big pink elephant in the room.

"You heard the nurse. You need your rest," Liberty offered after a moment. She didn't touch back on anything else. There would be plenty of time to talk about anything and everything. She just wasn't sure she could deal with opening a can of emotional worms at the moment.

JT sighed.

"Yes, mother dearest," he said in a slightly teasing way.

The term mother still panged at her heart.


	3. GAMES WITHOUT FRONTIERS

**INTO THE NIGHT**

**CHAPTER THREE- ****GAMES WITHOUT FRONTIERS**

_**DISCLAIMER**_ I do not own these characters. I am only responsible for my sick and twisted imagination.

* * *

He should have been sleeping but he couldn't help but lay there and water her – completely fixated on books about heart surgery recovering, the actual procedure and every other thing. She'd watched him a while before beginning to turn the pages. He'd faked sleep until she knew she was wrapped up in the books. He'd done this before when they were dating. Back then it had always been fiction or homework and it hadn't been sleep, he'd faked. It was doing him own work. Sometimes he'd asked her for help when he could have actually did it himself just to be around her. That had become a fairly good excuse during the months post breakup. Even Mia hadn't really been too concerned about why he still spent time around her on occasion.

There he was now, trapped in bed post heart surgery and he should have been sleeping and he was still caught up in old tricks. He wasn't that tired though. That was what he told himself anyways. He'd been _allowed_ to stay up to until nine when Toby called. He'd kept telling her that Toby was going to come back. His step mother had not permitted him to come back out though. She was apparently in overprotective mother mode post stabbing and did not want Toby to end up in JT's shoes. JT only wished his own mother cared. He knew that his grandmother would have called and told her. Her absence reflected the fact she didn't really care whether or not he was alive.

One of the moments that had flashed in his head when he was struggling post stabbing for his life was when he was younger when his mother and sister left him to stay with his grandmother. He was 'too much like his father'. He was a burden. And the fact he had people that he cared about in Toronto that he didn't want to leave only made her more upset. She was the one leaving but she had made it out like he was the one abandoning her.

No one really knew about how terrible his relationship with his parents was minus perhaps Toby. He'd always avoided opening up about it to Liberty. He didn't even _ really _ know his father other than his name and the legacy of abandoning people. It was genetic and he'd been struggling with it when Liberty was carrying his child. His fears had made him make mistakes but he was better for it. He'd matured despite himself; Despite his parents. His grandmother was the only person worth looking up to in a parental sense anyways.

JT was jealous of the fact Toby's parents cared enough to not let him come back. He selfishly wanted him to come back to the hospital room and deliver the goods. He accepted the facts though. That didn't mean when Liberty told him that he did have to go to sleep since Toby wasn't coming back that he did. Besides, Toby had promised he'd come over first thing in the morning.

In the waiting for the call from Toby, JT had started a notepad with other things he'd want. His plan was going from mildly crazy to delirium induced scheme. It wasn't just an engagement he was planning anymore. He knew Liberty wasn't a big wedding girl. She was a romantic. It wasn't how big the church was or how many people were there but the quality of the ceremony. Weddings were one day in a person's life. He didn't care about weddings. He wanted a marriage with her. A lasting one.

He'd be damned if he didn't get this right though. He'd made so many mistakes that this was important. He never really let her see what he was scribbling. He only scribbled on the paper when she wasn't paying attention or she was away. He had a few phone calls to make and he had every intention of making them once she was asleep. He hid it under his pillow. He managed to pass on a few of the calls to a nurse. There were some things that he didn't need to handle himself. There were some that were a man's job though and he was the man who would have to do them.

He just watched her behind bleary eyes, careful to not get called out.

He didn't want to get called out.

* * *

Liberty knew he wasn't sleeping. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. She always knew when his eyes were on her. They were a distraction. They always had been. Her grades hadn't been as stellar once they started 'studying' with each other. She was the one who dictated that they were actually going to work. When she caught on to the fact his eyes were watching her though, she usually ended up putting the books aside and calling for them to do other things. It was really shouldn't have surprised anyone that she'd ended up carrying his child. That chemistry was just undeniable.

When they'd broken up though, she'd started assuming that maybe it had been in her head all along. Maybe she had imagined his eyes watching her, when he still came around for her help. The long study sessions usually ended in quarrels. The saddest thing was that the more they had argued the more she'd wanted to kiss him. She'd come close quite a number of times. If it hadn't been for the sudden ringing of his cell phone and Mia wondering when he was coming over or Toby calling to ask about spending for the student body government they probably would have. Maybe not though. Liberty always imagined one of them would have simply dodged it.

The fact of the matter is that she was fairly sure that she doing just that now. The little comments and that glance when the nurse had come in to medicate him were plaguing her head. She was overanalyzing it. He was just trying to be friendly. They were still close. He just felt sorry for the way things had gone at the party. Maybe he was sorry for getting stabbed at her party. She thought all of those things were ludicrous though. He felt how he felt and there words had been … honest. She couldn't be upset that he'd chosen Mia. He'd chosen her and she'd chosen to remain beside him as a friend as long as he'd allow her, no matter how much it killed her.

The medication in his system had to be kicking in though. JT might have been made of steel but he wasn't immune to pain medication. The fake sleeping couldn't go on for that long. He'd eventually have to fall into real sleep. She was right about that though. His breathing did even out and she noticed a small trail of drool moving down from his mouth to his pillow. She couldn't help but laugh quietly at that before using a Kleenex to white it away. The close proximity clued her in to the notebook under his pillow though. The spiral glimmer was a giveaway. She wondered how long it had been stashed under there and how he could possibly have been comfortable with it under his pillow.

Maybe this was something that wasn't any of her business. Liberty could never leave things be though. She was gentle as she tugged it out from it's hiding place and even more quiet as she began to snoop though the pages.

Written in JT's familiar sprawl was a laundry list of things: ' _Ring (Toby), Cake & other refreshments (Emma, Sean & The Simpsons), Dress (Manny), father's permission, Grandma (Flowers) _'

At first it didn't make any sense. She tried piecing what all of this could be. What could this even mean? Her heart began to tug in her chest when she realized precisely what this meant. He was going to marry _i Mia _. Despite herself she felt the heady, overwhelming jealousy surge through her that she couldn't help. She'd dreamed of marrying him for years and now despite everything he was going to marry her. He hadn't been able to commit to her and their unborn child but now he was going to marry a teenage mother. He was going to end up adopting someone else's child.

All fleeting hope fled and in her heart, she began to wonder why he'd chosen to have her there though. Maybe he had been searching for a way to tell her. Maybe what little bit he did still care for her had told him that this was a good idea.

She wasn't the person who should have been there. She wasn't the person who belonged here. Maybe this was God collecting on her promises to keep him there. She would keep her word. She used the pen he'd been using to write a sprawling: _'I know.'_

She didn't have a car there. She didn't have anything other than her purse and her bank card where she'd been saving for ages. Maybe it was time to put them to good use.

* * *

Toby was there bright and early like promised. Six AM actually. He was never up this early and he hated it. The fact of the matter was on most weekend, he went to bed at this hour when he was done doing computer stuff. He was confused at best to not see Liberty there. JT was still asleep. Fresh drool on his pillow and all. Unlike Liberty, Toby wouldn't be caught dead helping to remove it. He prodded his friend gently to get his to stir but that was it.

"I brought the goods," Toby said trying to get him awake when JT tried to pull the five more minutes trick. Those words made his eyes pop over and he looked around as if looking for Liberty to make sure she hadn't overheard that before taking it from Toby.

"Where is she?" he asked putting the ring box in his pajama pocket. He had changed to those instead of the hospital robes at one point with the help of the nurses.

"I was going to ask you the same. I didn't imagine the transfer would be so easy," Toby said with a bit of a laugh moving to take a seat in Liberty's abandoned chair. His eyes caught the sight of spiral just under the edge of the bed on the floor. JT had probably hit it when he was asleep. He reached to grab it and gave it an odd glance and then frowned. Dammit. Why did he always end up having to clean up JT's messes? "Why did you leave out a play-by-play of your plans? Did you maybe forget Liberty has yet to be told your still in love with her not Mia?" he asked. His voice was calm and a hint amused but inside he was already trying to figure out how he was supposed to fix this. He always ended up having to fix things.

"What do you mean? I hid it under my pillow." JT was confused and he reached for the notebook. Toby helped him reach it though. JT's eyes looked over the text he'd written and then saw her little addition. "She doesn't know!" he managed out with a headshake. "You don't think that she thinks that I'm going… with Mia. "

"You really haven't formally broken it off with Mia," Toby said with a shrug. "It's probably something you should do before you openly plan your surprise engagement wedding coocoo bananas extravaganza. "

"I'm was going to do that," JT said fibbing a bit. He was just sort of hoping Toby telling her about his feelings for Liberty had been enough. He hated hurting people.

"What in a postcard from your honeymoon at the Dot?" Toby said with a laugh. That was all he really could do at the moment.

JT didn't seem to find the humor in that.

"Listen, I'll handle Mia. But first, we've got to find Liberty."

"She probably just went home," Toby said picking up the phone and dialing. It wasn't that hard. Danny ended up picking up. She'd not been home and he was under the impression that she was still at the hospital. That wasn't a good sign. Where else could she have gone though?

"This isn't good Toby," JT said no sooner than the receiver was back.

"Well if you were Liberty where would you go. I mean, if she were just stabbed about to marry Mia…" Toby started question.

The look on JT's face changed from concern to something else. Something Toby wished he didn't know what that meant. "I'd probably be on my way to borrow a camera from the studio to record the post-wedding …"

Toby winced. As hot as that might have sounded he did not want to think of either of those girls in that way. Ever.

"—Probably Seattle though. That's where James lives," he said. That was what the foster parents had named their son. He was named after one of their fathers but JT liked to think _i his _son was named after him.

"Let me get this straight. You want me to go to Seattle and get Liberty?"

Toby didn't even bother to complain about the fact he didn't really have that sort of money lying around. The fact of the matter was that he'd end up doing it anyways. JT was his blood brother and he always got caught picking up the slack. He'd have to break into the emergency fund.

"I'll owe you. I'll name my second born son after you or daughter. Anything you want," JT said.

"If I get her and she takes you back. You two are never allowed to separate again. No more stupid breakups or any of that."

"Done."

"And … handle the Mia situation while I'm handling this. I was harsh and I feel sort of guilty about it. I don't like being the bad guy. "

That one wasn't as eagerly "Done" but it was still done.


	4. ROAD TO NOWHERE

**INTO THE NIGHT**

**CHAPTER THREE- ****ROAD TO NOWHERE**

_**DISCLAIMER**_ I do not own these characters. I am only responsible for my sick and twisted imagination.

* * *

It rained the whole way to Seattle. Security was tight but she got a flight easily. Money really could get you anywhere that you needed to go. No one really bothered to question the fact she was probably still in high school and her parents didn't know any better. No one knew where she was going and that was the way she wanted it. She didn't want anyone to find her while she was there. Maybe not afterwards. She wasn't looking back. Maybe she'd get a job in Washington so she could be closer to her son and be able to visit the adoptive family more often. She didn't know what she was going to do. She did know that she couldn't keep her promise to not love JT anymore if she went back. She had to let him be happy with Mia. She knew him though. If she went back he'd want her there. He'd expect her to support him through it all.

She turned her cell phone off after the third or fourth call attempting to track her. She flicked over the missed calls quickly each time. She couldn't help but look but she wasn't going to see who wanted to each her. It was easier to tell herself that they wouldn't miss her when she didn't know who was calling. It was all a bunch of crap though and she knew it.

She left the terminal and got drenched by the time she found a cab. She gave the driver an envelope the used to hold a picture of her son. It had the address where he lived and that was where she was going. She didn't call in advance but they'd always said she could drop by at anytime that she was in Seattle. She was going to hold them to it.

She signaled the cab off before bothering to see if they were home. She was abandoned in the rain at their doorstep. There were no cars in the driveway and no one was answering the door. She supposed she might have made a mistake in not calling ahead but this was sort of a spontaneous trip anyways. She didn't care if she got pneumonia anyways. She let the rain hit her and she was going to wait. She'd wait and wait until someone showed up.

Nothing else could go wrong after all.

* * *

_Hi. You've reached Mia. I'm not in at the moment. Leave a message._

JT knew she was screening her calls. He hung up the phone a bit forcefully. This was like the third time he'd tried calling her. He knew that because he'd tried Liberty like a hundred. He was seriously starting to think women were a bunch of trouble. If he didn't love Liberty so much, he might just give them all up. He couldn't give them up anymore than he could give her up though. He just had to keep his promise to Toby.

He nearly jumped from his hospital bed when the phone started to ring again. Manny had taken up the chair next to him in everyone else's absence though and she collected it handing it over with a, "You're acting coo coo bananas, JT," she said in her own way telling him to calm down before he hurt himself.

JT rolled his eyes at her answering the phone.

"Hello," he said.

He had to pull the phone away from his ear at what he heard next. It was Mr. Van Zandt yelling loudly. He wanted to hand it over to Manny and tell her that it was for her but he knew good and well the yelling was all for him. Mr. Van Zandt had never exactly… liked him. And the fact Liberty was now sort of misplaced and it was his fault wasn't helping his case.

"Can you maybe… speak softer and slower so I can comprehend you?" he said trying to be as calm as he could.

This seemed to make the older man stop. When he spoke again it was comprehendible.

"I just got a call from a friend from a Sister firm in Seattle. My daughter has been arrested," he said to JT over the line.

JT would have choked if he'd had anything in his mouth. Instead he found himself fighting back laughter. He couldn't imagine what Liberty could have possibly have done that would merit her going to jail. She only ever broke rules… because of him. Crap. This was his fault. Again. Women!

"Toby is flying over now. Does he need to bail her out?" JT asked trying to keep his wits about him.

The use of the term Bail made Manny drop the fashion magazine she'd been reading and begin to listen more closely to this conversation. This was going to make for one hell of a story.

Mr. Van Zandt was quiet for a moment. JT could hear Danny and Liberty's mother conversing in the background though.

"She's met bail but they're holding her until Toby gets there. It's fortunate that she has at least one responsible friend. To be honest, I don't see what she sees in you, James."

JT winced at that. He'd never outright told him that he didn't like him. He had used his that name before though. It reminded him of his mother scolding him for being bad back when he'd lived with her and his sister.

He had to man up here though.

"I don't see what she sees in me either," he started honestly, "But I love her and if she'll have me when she gets back I'm going to make things right. I know you don't like me. You think I'm this irresponsible, idiot and I am those things because I didn't do the right thing the first time around. I love her though and I'm going to do those things. And you can either support us or you can go on hating me forever but you can be certain if she has to chose between me and you, she's going to chose me."

There was more silence. JT thought for a moment he'd hung up on him. Manny was just staring in complete awe.

"You hurt her ever again and I'll be digging you a grave in our back yard. They'll never find your body. You'll wish you'd have died when those Lakehurst boys stabbed you," her father finally told him.

JT had expected him to forbid him from ever seeing her again. He was shocked to have gotten off so lightly. He could abide by that though.

"I won't," he said simply.

* * *

A nosy neighbor had reported her for trespassing. Rich American neighborhoods, apparently did not like unknown dark-skinned people. She wouldn't have hurt a fly but they made her go in. She refused to call home. She was just going to rot but the officer took her id and from there it became a waiting game.

Her son and his adoptive family were spending a week visiting relatives in Calgary. They were back in Canada. They were extremely apologetic for the whole situation though and told the officers that they could release her. She didn't know her father had already posted bail anyways. They weren't letting her out regardless. In there eyes, she was a runaway and she could not be collected until an authorized person came to collect her. She expected her father to come running in talking about how she was ruining her life at any moment.

That was just the sort of thing he loved to do. He was always telling her what she should be. While she dreamed of writing plays and living in a small apartment and running a theatre – he wanted her to become a lawyer. He wanted her to be just like him. Everything was his way or the highway. She'd be willing to be his little clone too until JT had happened. That had changed everything. When she'd written Dracula for the school play and helped direct it with JT she was closer to her dreams than she'd ever been before. In some moments, she'd even dreamed of them running the theatre together. He'd be a male lead in most of her plays.

One thing she'd never told him is how he was chosen to be Van Helsing in the school play. When she'd read the book months before there had been many things that stuck out to her about the character that reminded her of JT. He was one of the few characters physically described. The words description always stuck in her head: "a man of medium weight, strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest and a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise of the head strikes me at once as indicative of thought and power. The head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the ears. The face, clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large resolute, mobile mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big bushy brows come down and the mouth tightens. The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost straight and then sloping back above two bumps or ridges wide apart, such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set widely apart, and are quick and tender or stern with the man's moods." The colors of the features were not the same but some of the details were very JT like in her head. And the personality had helped the case as well. He had an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, and indomitable resolution, self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the kindliest and truest heart that beats, these form his equipment for the noble work that he is doing for mankind, work both in theory and practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy. Not to mention well-developed, albeit ironic sense of humor. Those were all bits and pieces of Van Helsing and in her mind Van Helsing had become JT long before the play was ever read and long before JT and she had gotten together.

She found that in most books she read, she could see bits and pieces of him though. Some were more pronounced than others. JT could never be her muse again though. Not in the way he had been before. She'd written a few original pieces when they'd been together but she'd been far too ashamed of them to ever share them. They were all … extremely personal. Some were even illicit around the time they'd started to get intimate with each other. It certainly wasn't a just woke up one day and did it thing. She'd made him work for it when he did get it.

And that was a night that played over and over in her head. Even now in a cell with prostitutes and drunks, she could picture the way his room had been set up. She could still smell his grandmother's meatloaf downstairs left for them to eat if they got hungry. She was going out for a while. She could remember everything and she was certain even if she wanted to forget she'd never be able to forget a single detail until the day she died. Other times weren't so clear anymore but that one was special. The night they'd conceived their son stuck out in detail as well.

She wasn't going back no matter what she had to do. She couldn't go back when she could remember everything so clearly and he was busy making memories with Mia. She loved him enough to want him to be happy.

* * *

Toby had, had an interesting phone call with Mr. Van Zandt to say the least. And then JT had called. He still hadn't spoken to Mia. He had apparently spoken to Mr. Van Zandt and was in good spirits. He just hoped to be going to his own funeral. It wasn't that he was afraid of Liberty. It was just that she could be scary at times. He knew she was going to give him a fight. He knew that he was probably going to have to drag her home kicking and screaming but he was going to do this.

He was confident as he entered the police station telling an office precisely who he was. They told him to follow and lead him to the cell where they were holding her. It was strange seeing Liberty behind bars. He'd never pictured seeing her like this in a million years.

For once he was glad for them.

She had to listen as long as she was in there. He asked for a few moments before they let her out.

"My father sent you?" she asked confused but unmoving from where she was sitting. She didn't seem to be budging much.

"JT did actually. Your father just told me where I could find you in Seattle. I thought you might fall back into drinking and I'd catch you at a bar but I didn't imagine jail. You never cease to amaze me," he said smiling and trying to brighten things up. He was trying to be the positive happy one here. This would have been easier if JT had sent an instruction book for bringing her home. Surely he had an Owner's Manual or something.

"You can send my regrets. I won't be able to make it to _his _wedding," Liberty said. She wasn't saying much at all.

Toby ran a hand through his hair at that. Anxious reaction.

"Liberty, sometimes you really could do to wait rather than jumping to conclusions. I think you want to be at JT's wedding. You always have. You want to be in it and maybe you could be if you let me take you home," Toby said trying to say it without saying it.

She stood at that looking more than a little appalled.

"After everything we went through, he'd ask me to be in his wedding to her. I can't believe his nerve. Tell him to ask Manny. She's more of a wedding type girl anyways," she said.

"For goodness sake, tell that to him yourself."

Toby shook his head laughing despite the fact he knew this was far from funny. He opened his cell phone and dialed it. Obviously, JT was going to have to deal with this one.

He extended it to her but she didn't take it.

"Fine," he said putting it on speaker phone.

Moments later Manny picked up.

"Hello?" she said.

Toby groaned audibly.

"Put JT on now."

"Hold on. Mia just left. She's a wreck. You really should have been here – you're in big trouble by the way. Did you really have to be so mean to her, Toby?"

Toby sighed. Great.

"I'm with Liberty and I have you on speaker phone, Manny," he said simply. "We can talk about that later."

"Ohhh," she said seeming to catch his drift. There was some shuffling and muffled words and then something that sounded like an ouch coming from Manny and something that sounded remarkably like, 'You could have taken it a little more gently'.

"Hello," the voice finally said.

Toby noticed the way Liberty's face changed at the voice. It was curious watching her go from fighting with him to completely tamed and yet there was still something going on in her eyes. She seemed to still be fighting.

"Hey – Liberty and I were just discussing your wedding and how you'd be really disappointed if she wasn't there," Toby said trying to egg him on that it was now or never time for action.

She seemed to be not going to speak for a moment but then she did.

"I'm not coming. Make Manny your ex-maid of honor or whatever sick thing you've concocted with Mia," she said.

JT and Toby both shook their heads similarly at that to what she said.

It was JT's turn to rationalize with her.

"I just broke up with Mia, Liberty. I was never going to propose to b her /b ," he said simply.

Toby watched realization of the situation hit her and then confusion. She still didn't get it.

"Toby, is she still listening?" he asked.

"Her and half the hookers and drunks in Seattle," Toby said as he noticed this moment was being listened to by more than just him and Liberty. And Manny for what she could hear.

"Liberty, you remember how you said to me that you were still in love with me. Well that night after you left, I came after you. I was going to tell you that I still love you too," he said honestly. Toby officially felt like he was invading on something very, very personal. This was their moment. "I was stabbed though and then I realized. I love you isn't good enough. Will you marry me is what I should have asked you long ago. We've been through a lot but we're always going to get through it because we're us. I love you and I hope you still love me."

Toby let the guard unlock the door when he noticed she was crying. A hooker gave her tissues from her brassiere. He was surprised when Liberty actually used them to wipe her face. She was speechless.

"Are you proposing to me?"

"Hookers, jail, phones, and all…" he said with a laugh that let her know that he hadn't gotten too seriously too quick. It only made her cry harder though.

Toby could hear Manny crying on the other end too though. Apparently, it was a woman thing.

"If my proposal is this unordinary, how are we ever going to have a wedding to top it?" she asked the phone.

Toby smiled. That meant yes. His friends were getting married.

"I have something special in store," JT said all too seriously. "You've got to get back to Ontario first though." He paused as if to add something. "And I'm sorry for hurting you. I shouldn't have left that thing lying around. I wanted everything to be elaborate and beautiful and completely surprising. I blew it. I hope you're not to mad at me."

"It was perfect," she said.


	5. JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME

**INTO THE NIGHT**

**CHAPTER FIVE- **JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME

_**DISCLAIMER**_ I do not own these characters. I am only responsible for my sick and twisted imagination.

Liberty had talked on Toby's cell phone all the way to the airport and once on the plane home, she'd started using the air phone. Toby almost wished he could have had a seat somewhere else on the plane. Even though the phone conversation he was hearing was completely one-sided, he had an idea of what JT was saying on the other side and he did not need to know, hear, imagine any of this. They were his best friends and yes, he was happy that they were happy but there were some things he didn't need help imagining.

"Umm hmm," Liberty said before breaking out into an uncharacteristic laugh. "They said you should wait for 1-3 weeks before…." Her voice trailed off and she gave Toby a glance that said she was not going to be talking about what she was talking about, "reading a good book."

Toby knew what they were talking about and he wanted ear plugs. Okay maybe he didn't really know what they were talking about but he could imagine. Imagining was what led him wrong. He hoped the stewardess would come by soon, so that he could request earplugs instead of staring into space hoping he would go deaf.

"Yes, you have to follow the rules. There are other things to do though," she said before putting on a smile, Toby had only seen a few times and it scared him every time. JT must have been asking like what. "I could read to you."

Oh god. Toby hoped that wasn't some sort of metaphor. He really did.

"Mm hmm," she said followed by more laughter. "And maybe if you're good, I'll let you turn the pages if it doesn't take too much out of you..."

Okay, that made him raise an eyebrow.

"I'd like very much to read all night with you. I'm not quite sure how my father would feel about that. We both know how excited we get when we read together."

That was it. He couldn't take it. He snatched the phone up. Making Liberty shoot him a sharp look but it was a good price to pay to not have to endure this for the rest of the flight him.

"Liberty is unable to continue this conversation for the sake of my virgin sanity," Toby said. He was also strongly thinking about never reading again. "Do you two ever stop?"

"I hope not," was the reply from the other line. JT sounded amused. He nearly always did though. "Don't worry Tobes. One day you'll understand."

Toby just shook his head.

"We'll touch down soon enough. Keep your pants on and please… no more book innuendos," he said before giving the phone back to Liberty.

She seemed embarrassed enough by being called out that she kept the tone of the conversation PG for the rest of the flight home.

* * *

Liberty had expected lots of things but the last thing she had expected was JT in a wheelchair with a few others with him when they arrived at the airport. She didn't really notice the other people though. He could see by the way his shirt poked out that they'd bandaged him fairly nicely. He wasn't allowed to go stomping around but he was there. He was very much there and even his color was right about him.

She didn't give him a proper chance to tell her hello, she just moved over knelt enough to wrap her arms around him. He kissed the top of her forehead. He didn't notice the fact, she was in need of a shower. She was his Liberty and he was just so glad to have her back that he didn't care.

"Give her the ring," came a duo of coughs from Betty and Veronica aka Manny and Emma nearby. They were apparently very onto what was going on here and they seemed eager for the presentation of it all.

Liberty laughed a little when JT rolled his eyes at them, she could feel him reaching in his jean pocket before pulling out the small velvet box. She didn't begin to know where he got such a thing. She didn't imagine it would be very large or extravagant. She preferred something simple anyways.

She was surprised when he opened it and saw that it wasn't that small of a rock after all. It was white gold and there had to be at least 16 Diamonds there. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen in her entire life.

"Still want to wear my ring?" he asked cautiously.

"Of course, I do," she said. "But how did you afford this? You must have had to sale your car."

He'd had it for sometime really. Even if they hadn't eventually gotten back together he wouldn't have given it to anyone else. This was hers.

"I've had it since junior year. I bought it that Christmas. I saved up after everything. I knew I'd let you down but I was going to make it up to you… and then I chickened out and everything that happened, happened," he said honestly. "It's been sitting in my desk at the house for a long time. I'm honestly surprised you didn't accidentally discover it looking for a pencil or something when you were over studying."

Manny and Emma were eating this up. It was better than all the women's movie channels combined.

Liberty smiled. A nervous tug hit her as she remembered that they hadn't kissed each other's lips for over six months. She found herself wanting to kiss him and be kissed though.

"I love you," she said quietly, hesitating on the kiss.

"I love you too," he said putting the ring on her finger before taking care of that for her.

Everything felt right. It was as it was supposed to be. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest excitedly. For once she could almost forget the painful facts of the past. She could forget that their son was off in Seattle being raised by someone else.

In the second afterwards when she did recall those things, she almost had peace with it though. Maybe that was just part of the big plan for them. Maybe that was what was best for that child. They could have other children when the time was right. Rome wasn't built in a day.

* * *

JT's grandmother was kind enough to drop by her house and let her grab a few changes of clothes. Her father scolded her on the dangers of running off half way around the world but he ultimately let her go for now. JT needed to be home. He'd have a nurse come by one a day to change the bandages for the next few weeks but for the most part he just needed to do a lot of lying around.

Gran was happy to have her future-grand daughter in law around to help. She might not have been happy when JT had gotten her pregnant but she did like Liberty. She was secretly pulling for them all along. She saw a bit of herself at their age in them.

Liberty helped JT made his way to his room, sitting him on his bed before setting off in a million directions grabbing pajamas for him and anything else he might need.

His room was a complete mess. He obviously hadn't been expecting company the night he'd gotten stabbed. She picked up a bit here and there along the way. She wondered if this was how it was going to be when they got married. She'd have to train him on proper laundry basket usage.

Once content, she came back over with his pajamas sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"You can't sleep in your clothes," she said simply.

"You just want to undress me," he said laughing as he lifted his arms.

"I'm a complete professional. No unauthorized touching," she said with a headshake carefully removing his shirt for him. She examined his bandage. No leaks which was good. She'd hate if he tore stitches.

"That doesn't sound like fun," he said. "Whatever happened to reading me books?"

She made a face and started to undo his pants. "I'll read to you when I think your well enough for me to," she said double entendres still in tact.

It had been a long time and well, she did always have an effect on him. Post-heart surgery or not, he certainly knew that she was removing his pants. She was completely professional about it as she said she would be though, replacing the jeans he'd wore out of the hospital to the airport with flannel pajama bottoms.

"My body hates this rule," he said simply acknowledging it before she could.

"Well think of it this way, it's insurance that we'll behave ourselves at least until that special wedding extraordinaire you promised happens," Liberty told him comfortingly.

"How about now?" he said playfully reaching for the phone by his bed.

She hung it up.

"I'm going to go clean up and then bed," she said simply heading out toward his bathroom with her bag.

He was already curled up when she came back sleeping peacefully. She purposefully wore her comfy pajamas bottoms and an old t-shirt. Nothing cute. Nothing revealing. Just something comfortable.

There was a guest room that she was more than welcome to but JT's bed was big enough and this would be the first real night of sleep she'd had since her birthday. She was going to relish it.

She pulled the covers back, tucking him in before curling in herself next to him but facing the wall. She had barely gotten comfortable before she felt him curl his arms around her. It made her smile.

"Thought you could sneak back into my bed without telling me goodnight?" he asked warm breathe hitting across her neck.

"You were snoring," she said with a quiet laugh.

"I don't snore," he said not hesitating to let a light kiss hit her neck.

"Yes, you do. You sound just like my father when you do it too. I've determined all men sound the same when they snore," she explained turning her head enough to give him a sleepy glance.

"I've missed these sorts of moments with you," he said seriously for a moment. "And to think - you actually want to be stuck with me forever, snoring and all."

That made her kiss him. Nothing more than a sleepy peck though. Anything more might have gotten her into trouble.

"I talk in my sleep. You're going to be stuck with that," she said.

"I know," he said remembering a time or two that she had spoken in her sleep. He couldn't resist making fun of it either. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you preferred dream JT to me back then. What was that you used to say over and over again 'Oh JT'?"

She would have given him a love tap if she weren't afraid of sending him back to the hospital.

"Well dream you never went and told have the school about our sex life," she said making a valid point. "Speaking of which, I don't think Toby likes hearing about it very much."

JT laughed at that. "What gave you that idea?"

"Oh the way, he told us to stop earlier," she said laughing right with him.

"You need to sleep," JT told her giving her Eskimo kisses with his nose. He might have been the recovering stab victim but she hadn't really been sleeping right and he couldn't be selfish and keep her up all night.

"We need sleep," she came back at him.

"Okay then we'll sleep," he said closing his eyes.

She adjusting carefully in his arms to get in a normal sleeping position before closing her own. She was almost asleep when he said one more thing though, "I love you."

"I love you too," she said before letting the sleep take over.


	6. BIGGEST PART OF ME

**CHAPTER SIX- **BIGGEST PART OF ME

_**DISCLAIMER**_ I do not own these characters. I am only responsible for my sick and twisted imagination.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This is the shortest and least detailed segment of the story. It's the conclusion of it though. Thanks for all the past reviews and readers. I hope you've enjoyed the ride.

It was six weeks before JT was really back to normal. Liberty never left his side though when she wasn't at school and that only really lasted until the Winter Holidays. She was always there watching over him jumping to help him at whatever he needed. She even helped him complete his school assignments so that he wouldn't have to repeat his final year at Degrassi.

The teachers understood the situation too. It made everything easy.

Things were falling into a pattern of how they'd always been. They were better though this time around. It was months away from their Senior Prom and there were already rumors going around that they'd capture it easily. While JT had always been universally accepted in the school, Liberty's popularity had swelled in the wake of his stabbing and the romantic story of how they'd gotten back together.

Mia sunk into the shadows. While she'd been uneager to accept things at first, she ultimately decided that it was better to accept things gracefully than act like complete and utter bitch about things.

The only thing that had not come to pass was the wedding. Liberty knew it would come. She anticipated its arrival eventually but she didn't see any real urgency to make it happen quickly. She occasionally brought it up but JT would simply tell her he was handling it.

Liberty was trudging out of the school toward the car her father had purchased for her and Danny to share after school when she felt people grabbing her. Still not out of shellshock from what had happened to JT she immediately thought the worst. It wasn't until she caught sight of the blonde and brunette girl's that she knew her hostage takers were of the friendly variety.

"Where are we going?" she asked Manny.

"We're going to get your wedding dress fitted. We've had to picked out for weeks but if someone is going to get married this weekend we've got to make sure it's going to fit her like a glove," the brunette said directing Liberty toward Spike's car where Emma moved to get behind the wheel.

"This weekend -- As in this weekend?"

"That would be affirmative, Liberty Van Zandt," Emma told her with a wink.

The dress was perfect.

It was everything she ever imagined it would be.

She wanted to go back to JT's Grandmothers place to tell him how excited she was about everything but the girls wouldn't allow it. Instead she was carried out for A Hen party. They would have used Emma's but Emma didn't think the memories there at the curb would induce good. They decided on a bar.

Someone failed to advise the men of the same thing.

It ended up being a rather joint pre-wedding party. No one seemed to mind too much after the first few moments though. There group was back together again and everything seemed fine.

The wedding wasn't fancy or even in a church.

It was small and intimate.

The Degrassi High School gym was turned pitch black but there were seemingly a million candles lining the floors. This probably not something any other student could have earned the rights to do but when Mrs. H asked if there was anything she could do when JT was in the hospital he'd asked for use of her gym for the event when he was better. Apparently denying a student who almost died wasn't something she could do.

The school held so many memories for them that it would have been an impossibility to go with any other venue. It was Degrassi but it was their own special place at the same time with the candles aglow.

Gran and her parents were there. Her dad even cried.

Toby, Emma, Manny, and Sean were there to.

"I do," she told him with tears in her eyes.

"Well then I do too," he said right back.

Nothing else mattered in the world.


End file.
